$7.7 Million Sought for Better Water : Health: State money would enable 10,000 north Oxnard residents to hook into a supply to replace tainted ground water. But additional costs are a worry.

Ventura County has applied for $7.7 million in state loans and grants to bring drinking water in unincorporated north Oxnard up to state health standards, according to county officials.

If approved--and state officials say the chances are good for getting at least $5 million--the combination loan and grant package would provide money to connect water systems serving 10,000 people in El Rio and Nyeland Acres to the city of Oxnard’s water distribution system.

Connection to Oxnard or another water delivery system would relieve dependence on area ground water, much of which is contaminated with nitrates from agricultural runoff and septic tanks. Residents will have to pay an estimated $12.45 per household a month to pay back a $5-million loan at 3.5% interest over 30 years, a representative of the bond financing division of the Department of Water Resources said.

Residents in the working-class neighborhoods may also have to pay an estimated $500 per household to bring water lines from the main system to their residences if their existing water lines are bad, officials said. State loan money cannot be used to connect individual dwellings.

“They really can’t afford it. I really can’t afford it,” said Frank Lerma, an area resident who was elected president of the El Rio Mutual Water Co., which serves almost 100 residences. “But we really don’t have a choice because the water here is so darn bad. It’s just no good to drink anymore.”

Nitrate contamination in drinking water can cause death in infants by inhibiting the blood’s ability to carry oxygen.

Seven of the 20 small water companies that serve the area already are receiving emergency supplies from the United Water Conservation District.

Water in areas served by the other 13 companies still meets state health standards for nitrates, but the water quality is expected to continue to diminish, officials said.

“The nitrate problem has come and gone over the years, and we cannot imagine that it will suddenly and miraculously cure itself, even if we got lots of rain,” said Bob Quinn, manager of the water resources division of the county’s Department of Public Works.

Quinn said the county is taking the lead in applying for the state funds in hopes the small districts will agree to consolidate and connect with a water delivery system before all the area wells go bad.

Under present law, the maximum amount available to a single entity for drinking water cleanup is $5 million in loans and $400,000 in grants. Proposition 148, which was defeated on the Nov. 6 ballot, would have increased those limits. The $7.7-million application was prepared before the measure was defeated, Quinn said.

It is possible to raise the loan amount with legislative approval, but Quinn said he was unsure whether the county would pursue that option.

But $5.4 million may be enough to cover the necessary costs, he said.

The application seeks money to connect most of the districts to a new Oxnard distribution line and to pay fees to annex to the Calleguas Water District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Oxnard receives two-thirds of its water from Calleguas, which contracts with Metropolitan to receive state water from Northern California.

The application includes funds for Nyeland Acres Mutual Water Co., which serves about 1,500 people. But Nyeland Acres has already been approved for a separate $855,000 loan to drill a new well and install a new filtering system, said Daniel Corrigan of the state Department of Health Services.